WCPS to buy 15 new school buses

School board approves purchase in 7-0 consent agenda vote

December 15, 2010|By JULIE E. GREENE | julieg@herald-mail.com

Taking advantage of a better price than expected, Washington County public schools is buying 15 new buses, three more than originally planned.

The school bus purchases were among several items the Board of Education approved in a 7-0 consent agenda vote during a Tuesday afternoon meeting at the central office off Commonwealth Avenue in Hagerstown.

The school system had planned to buy one wheelchair-lift bus and 11 passenger buses, but will get two wheelchair-lift buses and 13 passenger buses, according to bid documents.

The prices will be good through June 30, 2011, if the school board needs to replace more buses, said Lisa Freeman, supervisor of purchasing.

The total cost of the 15 buses — including a price break for trading in 14 buses — is $1,252,151, according to presentation documents.

The contract was awarded to K. Neal International Trucks Inc. of Hyattsville, Md. The buses are expected to be delivered between April 1 and May 31 next year.

The trade-in buses will continue to operate through June. The cost of new buses was still higher than it was last time the school system bought buses, but the prices were not as high as anticipated, Freeman said.

A regular passenger bus cost $83,164 during the most recent bid for comparable buses, in June 2009, compared with the new price of $86,169, according to presentation documents.

Those prices did not account for the trade-ins. K. Neal International was the low bidder for both types of buses, with bids of $98,377 for one wheelchair bus and $877,659 for 11 passenger buses, according to bid documents.

American Bus Sales & Service in Annapolis, Md., bid $102,647 for a wheelchair bus and $915,593 for 11 passenger buses. I.G. Burton & Co. Inc. of Milford, Del., bid $110,646 for a wheelchair bus and $960,858 for 11 passenger buses.

The bid prices accounted for the trade-ins.

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